Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) In two different rescue operations, 26 child labourers were rescued from zari (embroidery) units and dhabas (roadside eateries) in the capital, an NGO said Monday.

According to a statement by the child rights NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), 11 children were rescued Monday from zari units in the Noor-e-Ilahi area of east district of Delhi. The raid by the Delhi Task Force, which includes police officials and those of the labour department, was conducted on a complaint filed by the BBA.

“All the rescued children were working in zari units and were below the age of 14 years. Most of them hail from Bihar and were brought by a few middlemen on the pretext of a rosy future but later were forced to work as bonded labourers,” the statement said.

According to the NGO, the children were found to be working in extremely unhealthy conditions and looked ill and malnourished.

“They were all working in claustrophobic rooms, without proper ventilation and hence most of the children were in ill health and looked malnourished. Five zari units were sealed by the SDM and five employers who employed them in unauthorised manner ignoring the Child Labour Act, Bonded Labour Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, were arrested,” it added.

In another rescue operation Sunday, 15 children were rescued - three were rescued from zari units and the rest from dhabas in the Kapashera area of southwest Delhi.

“Most of the children were from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. After completion of all the legal formalities, the children were sent to Mukti Ashram, a rehabilitation centre run by the BBA,” the statement said.

R.S. Chaurasia, chairperson of the BBA said: “It is all due to inactiveness of the labour department and the police, who are keeping no track of unauthorised factories running in densely populated areas.”